Posts Categorized: Diaspora

Hate the Game, Not the Player

As the illustration above shows the Sinhala leaders have no incentive to cater to Tamils or Muslims. And TNA or Tamils don’t gain anything by moving their position to the right of the scale. Are the Muslims also in their own distribution that is not aligned to the two above? If so, do they overlap more with the Sinhalese or with the Tamils?

There is nothing Tamils or Muslims do or say that will convince the Sinhala median voter to move to the left to meet them halfway as the median voter theorem dictates.

Loss of Past President JM Rajaratnam (1928-2014)

from the Booklet of Sangam’s 26th Annual General Meeting in 2003, when Mr. Rajaratnam was given a Lifetime Achievement Award: Mr. J.M. Rajaratnam, a graduate of University of Ceylon, was the winner of a five year open government Scholarship for studies in Accounting in the UK.   He was the CEO and Chairman, Board of Directors… Read more »

USTPAC Condemns Violence Against Muslims

USTPAC Press Release Attack on Muslims June172014 USTPAC condemns the violence against the Muslims in Sri Lanka Stronger international oversight urged to ensure accountability and protection of ethnic and religious groups Washington, DC, June 18, 2014: The United States Tamil Political Action Council (USTPAC) strongly condemns the attack on the Muslims in the town of… Read more »

Looming Troubles For Rajapakse

by M.K. Eelaventhan,  June 11, 2014 Modi’s thumping victory stunned the world including Rajapakses. They Consoled themselves when Modi obtained the majority government not depending on Jaya who would have spared no stones unturned increasing enough pressure to listen to her demands including Eelam Tamils’ issues. However, this is also a blessing in disguise as she… Read more »

Remember to Remember Part 2

In the Vanni, through the unceasing waves, LTTE created areas of full control. And invested heavily in projects of statebuilding that gave people a sense of dignity, safety, limited freedom of movement. Before that meeting, Sivaram saw those projects as waste of precious resources during the time of war. He was of the opinion that, as a direct consequence of state building, LTTE focused too much on expanding conventional capabilities and on protecting territory at the expense of its guerrilla roots. But the witnessing of statebuilding exercise has left an everlasting impression on the Vanni people as well as on the visiting diaspora. That investment paid off in the form of willing participation and in unflinching loyalty to the LTTE even in its dying days.

An Offer to Let the Mind Wander

by Ligaya Mishan, ‘The New York Times,’ May 29, 2014 The shiny black table reflects blue sky, banana fronds and distant birds with eyelash wings. Outside, signs for mortgages and driving lessons loom over this tired stretch of Hillside Avenue in Jamaica, Queens. But inside Spicy Lanka, clouds drift, as does the mind. The murals on… Read more »

TNA Statement on Sri Lanka’s Diaspora Ban

TNA Statement on Diaspora Ban  The Tamil National Alliance (TNA) wishes to unequivocally condemn the recent action taken by the Government of Sri Lanka to designate several Tamil diaspora organisations and individuals under Gazette Extraordinary No. 1854/41 of 21 March 2014. This Gazette notification was issued under the United Nations Regulations No. 1 of 2012… Read more »

5 yrs On: Remember to Remember

by Eelapalan, Finding Self blog, May 18, 2014 5 Yrs On. Global Tamils are remembering the 5th anniversary of the May 2009.  While we mourn the lives lost, we should also remember to remember the truth. The Tamilnation website quoted the following prophetically and purposefully, when it shut itself down. “…A key psychology for leading… Read more »

The Future Of The Tamils

Thank you for the opportunity to address the Tamil Writers Guild on the 10th Anniversary of its founding by Mr CJT Thamotheram. I have been asked to talk on the ‘Future of the Tamils’. I am conscious of the weight of the topic. And of the impossibility of doing it justice in the time available…. Read more »

Why Sri Lanka is Severing Ties Between Tamils at Home and Abroad

Colombo’s move to list organizations and individuals in the Tamil diaspora as financiers of terrorism has one motive: to silence Tamil voices both within the government’s jurisdiction and overseas. By doing so, the government hopes to prevent them from contributing to the international inquiry and thereby avoid accountability.

Vaiko is a Voice of the Eelam Tamils

by M.K. Eelaventhan, April 6, 2014 Eelam Tamils are in a crisis unprecedented in the history. We need a leader in crisis. In the present critical context, Vaiko alone is equal to the task of raising his voice on behalf of the Eelam Tamils. His voice is the voice of voiceless Tamils at home. Vaiko… Read more »

India Abandons the Tamils

India which voted for the earlier resolutions of the USA against Sri Lanka in the UN Human Rights Council this time kept mum until March 27th, while enacting dramas of hopes for Tamils. To the shock and dismay of all Tamils internationally, the TNA, Human Rights groups including the USA, India somersaulted and abstained from… Read more »

The Pact

what in US campaigns
we know as the Swift Boat
strategy

Diaspora Response to GoSL List

Suren Surendiran – Global Tamil Forum This action now proves that the government is bankrupt of political will to even attempt to resolve the root causes of the Tamil National Question. As the UN Human Rights Commissioner acknowledged after her visit to Colombo in August 2013 and in her recent report, the government’s authoritarian tendency… Read more »

Critics Question Sri Lanka’s Ban on Tamil Exile Groups

by Union of Catholic Asian News, Hong Kong, April 3, 2014 Rights monitors are questioning the motives behind Sri Lanka’s decision to ban 16 Tamil diaspora organizations, which the government has accused of links to “terrorism” and the alleged revival of a separatist movement. On Tuesday, External Affairs Minister GL Peiris signed the proscription order… Read more »

Transcending Terror

It is the mass banning of Tamil civil society…It is, however, also a deliberate attempt to stop the outflow of information regarding on-going atrocities in the Tamil areas, to the international community via diaspora networks, precisely at a time when it is critical. Indeed in 2009, as the mass civilian slaughter ensued, it was the diaspora, not international bodies such as the UN, that provided the most accurate portrayal of events on the ground.

USTPAC Welcomes UN Human Rights Council-led Investigation

USTPAC Press Release HRC25 Resolution on Sri Lanka 032814 WASHINGTON DC, March 28 2014: On Thursday, March 27, the United Nations Human Rights Council (UNHRC) adopted a resolution on Sri Lanka, A/HRC/25/L.1/Rev.1, which creates an international investigation into widespread human rights violations committed during the war that ended in May 2009. “Tamils have waited nearly… Read more »

The Lord Business

UN is no Tamil’s string of pearls. Let’s just be honest.  The current UN resolution as it stands will not bring impactful change to the Eelam Tamils. What it does though is to keep a door ajar.  It is a sensible beachhead strategy.  It is so because that is where the final act will play… Read more »

Primacy of Accountability

Last week’s opening of the UN Human Rights Council’s 25th session gave rise to strong and welcome calls from key member states for an international inquiry into Sri Lanka’s mass atrocities. That Sri Lanka is not going to investigate the horrific crimes for which its leaders are responsible and that accountability depends entirely on an… Read more »